A Grading Guide for Coins

You may have been browsing around our site and noticed several short codes of letters and numbers listed with our various coins for sale. What do these collections of numbers and letters mean and why are they important? From top to bottom, here’s a quick guide to get you up to speed.

MS70 Perfect Uncirculated

This coin is in perfect condition with no imperfections whatsoever.

MS65 Choice Uncirculated

This coin could be lightly toned or brilliant, but has a few contact marks that are noticeable.

MS60 Uncirculated

No wear is present, but more contact marks are visible and the surface might be spotted.

AU55 Choice About Uncirculated

Only the smallest of wear is visible on the coin’s high points and the majority of the Mint stamp’s luster is visible.

AU50 About Uncirculated

There is some very light wear on the raised portions of the coin, and up to half of the Mint stamp’s luster is visible.

EF45 Choice Extremely Fine

This coin is lightly worn throughout the high points, but the details are still very sharp and present.

EF40 Extremely Fine

This coin is lightly worn throughout its surface, but everything is still sharp and some luster might show.

VF30 Choice Very Fine

This coin has light wear throughout and at the highest points of the coin’s design, but lettering and numbers are all still very legible and sharp.

VF20 Very Fine

There is general wear across the coin’s high points, but all the major details are visible and clear.

F12 Fine

The wear is rather considerable on this coin, but the design is still quite visible and clean.

VG8 Very Good

All of the main features are clear, but the coin is well worn and rather flat in its appearance.

G4 Good

This coin is very heavily worn, with some of the details becoming faint and hard to make out.

AG3 About Good

The visuals on this coin are smoothed out and probably hard to read. The coin is heavily worn throughout.

If you find a coin that doesn’t match one of these numbers but falls just above or below it, that means it is either graded just above or just below these standard grades. As always, we’re here to help you understand everything about the coins we offer. Please don’t hesitate to contact us or stop into our retail shop in Signal Hill, CA if you would like to talk about the grading of a coin you’re interested in!